Senna’s equal: Max Verstappen wins the Canadian Grand Prix and the 41st victory of his career

Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix, the eighth stage of the Formula 1 World Championship, for the second consecutive year on Sunday.

This victory, the 41^e of his career, equals the record of Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna. By the same token, the Dutchman provides the Red Bull team with a 100^e success in F1.

Starting in the lead position, the driver of the Red Bull team led the 70-lap race from start to finish, without being really worried.

He was ahead of Fernando Alonso who, driving his Aston Martin, had started alongside him on the front row on the starting grid. The Spaniard reached the podium for the seventh time in eight events this season.

The Austrian team maintains its perfect record this season with eight victories in eight Grands Prix, including six acquired by Verstappen who signs his fourth consecutive triumph.

Two unexpected points for Stroll

Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) finished third. This meeting of three world champions on the podium is the second to occur this year after the Australian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), Alex Albon (Williams), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) followed in order.

As for Lance Stroll, Alonso’s teammate, he finished his career in ninth place, which allows him to add two points (37) to his harvest in 2023.

Out of the points with one lap to go, he overtook two opponents, Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren) before the curtain fell.

In the final table, the gap between Stroll and the Finnish driver is only 30 thousandths of a second. The Quebecer equals his best performance at the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit. He had reached the finish at the same position in his rookie year in 2017 and two years later.

Capricious tires

“How not to be happy? This race seemed easy, but it was not. The tires were difficult to heat up and I was slipping a bit when exiting the corners,” commented the winner.

“I am grateful to my team and above all very proud to have led them to a 100^e victory in F1. Honestly, I never thought that one day I would win so often,” he continued.

“I hate comparing generations,” Verstappen said of Senna. But it’s amazing to join such a remarkable driver and it’s very flattering to have the same number of victories as him.

Seventy qualifying laps

Starting second when the red lights went out, Alonso was taken by surprise by Hamilton at the first corner.

“I think we could challenge Max’s Red Bull more, but I lost a place at the start to Lewis and had to fight him,” Alonso said.

The latter managed to overtake the Briton on the fifth lap and then to forge a relatively comfortable lead. But Hamilton came back a little stronger at the end of the race, without however managing to regain his place.

“At the start of the race I had more pace than Lewis, but at the end he had more,” said Alonso. All in all, it was demanding from start to finish. It’s as if I had done 70 qualifying laps.

Albon works miracles

Happy seventh, Alex Albon was brilliant aboard his Williams, considered the red lantern on the board.

You have to go back to 1^er August 2021 to see the British team achieve such a result, courtesy of Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi.

The Thai was also proclaimed “driver of the day” by popular vote. With its seven points accumulated in 2023 (all by Albon), the Williams team leaves the cellar of the constructors’ classification ahead of Alpha Tauri which has only accumulated two points.

The F1 circus returns to Europe in anticipation of the next stopover of the championship which will be contested in Austria on July 2.